Former House Speaker John Boehner threw a saturated blanket over the repeal-and-replace effort, saying Republicans would likely fix the legislation’s flaws and build a conservative box around it at a conference hosted by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society in Florida. Boehner presented his crystal ball projection last Friday, showing once again that there appears to be a lot of faction within the party over how to handle former President Obama’s health reform bill (via CNN) [emphasis mine]:
Former House Speaker John Boehner on Thursday cooled congressional Republicans’ ardor to follow through on their promise to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.
“They’re going to fix Obamacare,” the former Ohio congressman predicted at a conference hosted by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society in Orlando, Fla. “I shouldn’t have called it repeal and replace, because that’s not what’s going to happen. “Basically, they’re going to fix the flaws and take a more conservative approach.”
Boehner’s comments come as his former colleagues face an uncertain path to dismantling then-President Barack Obama’s signature achievement. The party has yet to agree on a replacement plan, and many members are facing criticism at town halls this week from voters nervous about the potential consequences of Republicans keeping their campaign promise.
The former speaker noted that Republicans will face a challenge in convincing everyone to support the initiative.
So once again we have the repealing faction, the repealing and replacing faction, and the “fixing” cohort, all vying to take control of the narrative, each with their own set of legitimate goals.
The repeal wing knows the conservative base wants the bill gone, and Republicans have been campaigning for years. The repeal, replace, and fix wing know that if repeal happens, without amendments (or a repeal bill) and people die from losing their insurance — then Democrats will run Republicans in the 2018 and 2020 elections. There is no amount of PR work that will facilitate turn that to our advantage. I agree with what some conservative policy experts like Avik Roy have said, that the window for a immaculate repeal without political consequences slipped through our fingers when we lost the 2012 election. Now that millions have signed up, liberals have ammunition to say the GOP wants to make America unwell again (which they already have) and scare voters into thinking they are trying to take away their health care. Let’s not forget that Obamacare has already stripped millions of people of health insurance while driving up premiums. Even CNN has admitted that the bill is not affordable for the American middle class. Obviously something has to be done. We’ll see what happens, but tomorrow morning Guy will post about the 106-page replacement plan the GOP is working on. Stay tuned.
